High-lift flight control surfaces are typically used to increase the lift of an aircraft wing during the take-off and/or landing phases. Such high-lift flight control surfaces typically comprise one or more trailing edge devices also known as flaps and can sometimes also comprise one or more leading edge devices also known as slats on larger aircraft. Different configurations of flap and slat deployment is typically achieved via a lever in the flight deck that can be positioned at discrete positions corresponding to specific commanded configurations for the flaps and slats. Since both flaps and slats typically move to different positions (measured in degrees) for a commanded configuration, it has become a common practice to identify those configurations through a discrete number (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) corresponding to specific lever positions. On some aircraft, the same number can correspond to different flaps and/or slats positions depending on whether the aircraft is about to take-off or about to land. Even though the lever has discrete positions, the high-lift flight control surface(s) move to attain corresponding commanded position(s) typically measured in degrees.
Existing methods for presenting information to the flight crew about the operation of high-lift flight control surfaces require a significant amount of the flight crew's attention during phases of high workload and can potentially lead to misinterpretation of the information. Improvement is desirable.